John Burzynski, Osisko Mining’s (TSX: OSK) chairman and CEO, recalls how exploration drilling at the Windfall gold project in Quebec set a few records and ruined an entire generation of geologists.
Crews at the project where drilling began in 2015 cut the longest hole in Canada, some 3.4 km deep, and another that was probably the richest anywhere when it intersected more than 90 kg per tonne.
“We had 30 or 40 young geologists on that site at the time and no one’s ever seen this much gold before and on a very regular basis,” Burzynski said from a Fairmont Royal York Hotel stage in Toronto. “When we get the weekly reports, they only mentioned the stuff over 100 grams because everything else kind of doesn’t matter. It’s a nice problem to have.”
He won the Bill Dennis award at the annual awards ceremony last week for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, which held its annual convention. The prize named for Dennis, a former president of the association, honours a significant Canadian mineral discovery or contribution to exploration.
Osisko is developing Windfall in an equal partnership with South Africa’s Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI; JSE: GFI). Burzynski was also part of the same team who started production at Canadian Malartic, which vies to be Canada’s largest gold-producing mine, now run by Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM). Burzynski and his team saw the potential in Windfall, which is in the Abitibi belt about 700 km northwest of Montreal, after previous owners had mis-interpreted the geology.
Skookum Jim
The Skookum Jim Award, named for the Indigenous member of the group that discovered the Klondike gold fields, went to the Wabun Tribal Council in northern Ontario. It has developed the Wabun model for engaging with the mining industry. The prize was accepted by executive director Jason Batise.
“If you come to our territories to work, we will treat you fairly and will treat you consistently,” Batise said. “As a result, we now enjoy a portfolio of impact benefit agreements that is second to none on the planet. We do it better, we do it more often.”
Jason Batise, executive director of the Wabun Tribal Council, helped develop new mining agreements. Credit: Colin McClelland
This year’s Sustainability Award went to O3 Mining (TSXV: OIII) for its performance in environmental, social and governance issues. It’s one of the first exploration companies certified by Underwriters Laboratories of Canada in the Ecologo certification program and uses biodegradable oil in all of its heavy machines. The company is advancing a portfolio of gold projects near Val-d’Or, Que.
Thayer Lindsley
The Lundin Group, which includes Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN), Filo Corp. (TSX: FIL), and NGEx Minerals (TSXV: NGEX), won the Thayer Lindsley Award for a recent significant mineral discovery anywhere in the world. Lundin’s Vicuña district exploration team discovered three copper-gold porphyry deposits and a new mineral area straddling the Argentina-Chile border in work over the past two decades.
John McConnell, CEO of Victoria Gold (TSX: VGCX), accepted this year’s Viola R. MacMillan Award for innovative financing.
Victoria’s Eagle gold mine in the Yukon used a combination of private equity from Orion Resource Partners and offtake streams when prospective investors for a low-grade gold mine using heap leaching in the Arctic were hard to find. Osisko Development (TSXV: ODV; NYSE: ODV) CEO Sean Roosen was an early booster.
“Once we convinced him, that was a big step,” said McConnell, who began his remarks with a dad joke and continued to jest. “He actually brought Orion along and Orion was a pain in the ass, they spent about a year doing due diligence, but we got there with them as well.”
John McConnell, right, started with a bit of joking after receiving Victoria Gold’s financing award. Credit: Colin McClelland
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